


A Fairytale of Seattle

by lazydazy



Category: 10th Kingdom, Dark Angel
Genre: Dark Angel Big Bang 2012, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-02
Updated: 2012-09-02
Packaged: 2017-11-13 10:10:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/502366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lazydazy/pseuds/lazydazy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Max escaped with the other X-5’s from Manticore through a magic travelling mirror and found herself a life in Seattle, constantly in hiding and on the lookout for her fellow escapees whilst making a meagre living at Jam Pony and supplementing it with cat burglary. On this occasion she finds herself and the victim of her burglary falling through an unknown magic travelling mirror and back to the world she thought she’d left behind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Fairytale of Seattle

**Chapter One**

Once upon a time there was a girl named Max who lived at the edge of the forest...okay, so not really but she did like to sit on top of the Seattle Space Needle which kind of looks like a giant tree so let’s go with that. 

This particular morning finds her running late for work at the Jam Pony Express.

“Well, well, well... so far, your moronic colleagues have come up with the following excuses for why you're strolling in here at the crack of noon,” says Normal, Max’s boss. “You had a dental emergency, your aunt died... again, you were detained by the sector police for taking troll dust and, my personal favourite from this idiot - a giant beanstalk suddenly grew in your garden and you had to slay the giant above it before you could start your shift. Now, would you care to further insult my intelligence?”

Normal’s got a backbone straighter than the broomstick Queen Cinderella had to help her sweep the kitchen for her step-mother. He’s talking to Max who has just got to Jam Pony and the idiot he referred to is Sketchy. Just for the record, he is an idiot, but he’s harmless really.

“I slept through my alarm,” replies Max.

Huh, I bet Normal didn’t see _that_ coming. She’s lying, by the way; Max, that is. She got herself into a jape and has been working to get herself out of it. She never oversleeps as sleep isn’t really a necessity for her, but that’s a story for another day. Let’s get back to the here and now. 

Normal’s given up on yelling at Max and thrown a parcel at her to deliver. She’s going to head out any minute.. oh, wait, she’s being trapped by Original Cindy, she’s in for it now.

“Whatcha up to, Boo? You know I ain’t standing for no ‘overslept’ bull crap,” OC doesn’t pull _any_ punches.

“I gotta blaze, don’t want Normal thinking I’m not working.” Max is brave responding to OC like that. Especially with that cheeky wink.

She’s followed it up by hopping onto her bike, jamming her baseball cap down over her head and riding on out of there. If Original Cindy could kill with her looks, that one would certainly have done it. But she does have a soft spot for Max so she won’t be mad for long. 

Seattle isn’t what it used to be. The pulse has done its damage all across America and Seattle wasn’t any exception. Life goes on, though, even if it isn’t the same as usual. Of course, the pulse didn’t affect the other Nine Kingdoms, but it did make it easier for the inhabitants of the Nine Kingdoms to travel back and forth to Seattle in order to try their luck in this run down country. Some travel here to grab themselves some slaves; especially where people are stupid and unlucky enough to believe the Trolls offer of a better place to live and a better life. Those people must have hit rock bottom to believe what those Trolls say. Either that or they are one of the thousands tricked into taking Troll Dust and got hooked. Nasty stuff.

Max escaped from Manticore and travelled through a magic mirror to Seattle. Being on the run, she never got to see the good side of the city before the pulse and afterwards, well, there just isn’t a good side when you don’t have any money. Look at where we are now, for example; a rundown high rise building right in the centre of what used to be the city’s financial district. This place used to be buzzing with people in sharp suits and sharper cars. Offices full of leather chairs and large desks with fat cats behind them. Now it’s a miracle if the elevator works. Which it is today; although it wouldn’t bother Max if it wasn’t.

She’s gone up in the elevator with her bike, you can’t be too careful about leaving your belongings lying about unattended in this place. She’s not paying too much attention to the job in hand, though, she’s looking at a statue in the building across the way whilst the secretary signs for the package. That statue will help her supplement her income. Look, she’s going out a different way into a side alley and rigging the door so she can get back into the building later. That must be the start of her plan to get the statue; our Max is such a clever girl. 

I won’t bore you with all the details of Max’s daily life. She spends her days riding around the city getting through check points with her Jam Pony pass and delivering the parcels Normal gives her to deliver. Tonight, rather than go out with OC and Kendra to Crash she’s taking her baby out for a ride. No I don’t mean an actual baby. I mean her motorbike; the Kawasaki Ninja. Her most prized possession and the only thing that gives her the feeling of freedom that she most craves. She’s letting loose with the accelerator now that she’s got past the checkpoint. She’s heading to the building she delivered her first parcel of the day to and from there she’s going to Spiderman it over to that apartment with the cat statue in it. This should be fun; she’s very good at cat burglary.

She’s parked up a couple of blocks away and headed the rest of the way to the building on foot. The door she rigged to stay open this morning is still open. It had looked like it was a rarely used exit, what with the amount of rubbish piled up in the corridor leading up to it. There’s no need for her to be quiet as she enters. No-one will be there, it being a nine to five type of office, and the door is no longer rigged up to the alarm thanks to her earlier skills. 

Upon entering, Max closes the door and silently makes her way to the stairwell, taking the stairs all the way to the top of the building. Man, she is fast. Here come her ninja skills. She’s attached a rope around the railing by the edge and, attaching the other end round her waist, she’s swung herself off the building and onto the other one. The one that contains the cat statue. She’s so quick she’s already undone the rope and prised open the skylight in the moment it took me to explain what she was doing.

On entering the apartment she doesn’t head straight for the cat statue and then leave. This is her first mistake. Instead, she gets sidetracked by the shiny things in the first room and starts picking them up and slinging them into her rucksack. As she does she can hear an Eyes Only bulletin. Only it’s louder than usual and the television she can see in the lounge is switched off. Ignoring that is her second mistake.

_“This is a Streaming Freedom Video Bulletin. The cable hack will last exactly sixty seconds. It cannot be traced, it cannot be stopped, and it is the only free voice left in this city.”_

As the broadcast continues Max carries on through the apartment leaving things she doesn’t rate as good to sell and putting those she does into her rucksack. She then goes through to the room that she saw that morning and as she takes hold of the cat statue she realises that the hack has ended. Then the most gorgeous blond hunk of a man walks through the door.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” he yells at her.

Think on your feet, Max… 

“Stealing your statue,” she says.

Yeah, that ought to do it. She may be ninja but she ain’t always bright.

“What do you think gives you the right to do that?” The hunk asked.

“Gotta make a living,” There’s something about this guy that’s making Max incapable of thinking like she normally does. She’s usually a lot better at lying than this.

“I can’t let you do that.” The hunk is moving towards her, not breaking eye contact. 

Max is unusually still as the hunk reaches her and, just as he’s about to take hold of the statue he takes his eyes off her for a split second. This is all she needs to grapple him to the ground, the statue rocking in its place from almost being snatched. 

All this grappling; it almost looks like they’re about to start kissing. He’s definitely good-looking enough to catch her fancy and it has been a while… 

Anyway, I digress. They aren’t kissing or anything close to that, as nice as that would be. They are in fact having quite a closely matched fight in his front room. He must have realised, in being dropped to the floor, that she has a bag full of other things that belong to him and he’s really not giving them up. He should, Max is damn good at this sort of thing and could quite easily kill him. I hope she doesn’t. He’s really hot. They’d make a fantastic couple...

_Ahem_. 

The fight doesn’t seem to be breaking up any and neither side are giving any leeway to the other. However, the setting is about to change dramatically and will change both of their lives forever.

When Max throws Hunk at a wall, the mirror hanging there shimmers and cracks, revealing a magic portal. Hunk still has a firm grip around Max’s wrist which means that when he falls straight through the portal he pulls her with him and into the unknown beyond.  
“Where the hell are we?” 

“What the hell just happened?”

Don’t you just hate it when you character’s both speak at once and you have no idea which one said what. Although they have every right to both be mad about what just happened. 

Now, I can tell you that the Hunk has knowledge of the Nine Kingdoms but has never been there, having never worked out how to travel between the Nine and the Tenth (Although I can’t tell you any more for now. Be patient). On the other hand, Max came from the Nine Kingdoms (even though she acts American through and through) and has travelled by Magic Mirror before. Just not from wherever they have landed on this occasion. 

They have fallen through to land unceremoniously at the top of what can only be called a slide, from which they proceed to tumble down, gathering speed, until they land at the bottom in a tangled heap of arms and legs. Maybe now they’ll ki....no, Max is up and banging her head on the sign at the end of the slide.

“You ok?” The Hunk is ever so lovely.

“I’ve had worse headaches.” She’s not lying either. She gets wicked headaches when she’s running low on tryptophan. 

Max is being nice and helping the hunk up. Maybe it’s because she likes him? No, it’s probably just so that they can get themselves back to Seattle. She’s not one to mess around in situations like this.

“What are you doing with a Magic Travelling Mirror in your house?” Max demands.

Ok, the niceness is over.

“A Magic Travelling Mirror? In _my_ house?” He catches on quick, doesn’t he?

“That’s what I said.” Max is looking pissed.

“But, I’ve been looking for ways into the Nine Kingdoms ever since I found out about....” He’s trailed off. 

I told you that there’s more than meets the _eye_ to this one.

“Ever since you found out about what?” Oooh, Max’s heckles are raised now, he’s got his work cut out if he wants to get on her good side.

“I think we need to introduce ourselves to each other seeing as we currently only know each other as thief and victim. I’m Logan.” He holds his hand out.

“Max.” She shakes his hand and, oh, look, he’s used it as an opportunity to get hold of her and look at the barcode on the back of her neck.

Logan’s a sneaky one.

“I thought so,” Logan mutters, “I had seen the front door wasn’t forced and the intruder alarms hadn’t been set off so there had to be something special about you.”

“What do you mean by ‘something special’?” Max has still got her heckles raised.

“You’re one of the X-5’s that escaped from Manticore.” Logan’s simple statement has practically taken Max’s breath away.

“Who are you? What are you talking about? Get your hands off me!” She’s really agitated now. 

Max has kept her secret for years, always looking over her shoulder, never relaxing. Covering her tracks as well as only the X-5’s can so it’s not a surprise that his statement has thrown her so much.

“Calm down!” He’s trying to placate her. 

“My name is Logan Cale and I know a lot of things that a lot of evil people would prefer me not to. I investigate bad guys; read reports on them, you know, with my eyes…” 

Now there’s a clue if ever I heard one. Let’s see if Max is paying proper attention or not.

“ _Eyes Only_?” She is, she’s a good girl.

Logan nods and smiles at her. He’s got a gorgeous smile....

“Yes. I know all about where you come from. I got an anonymous report a few years ago about a covert genetics lab in the Fourth Kingdom masquerading as the Snow White Memorial Prison. I’ve been researching into it ever since,” Logan tells her. “I have my contacts but haven’t been able to gain access to the kingdom due to the heavy guard placed on the _known_ magic travelling mirror in Seattle. Obviously, had I known the mirror in my apartment was one I wouldn’t have had to struggle so much these last few years.” 

He seems a bit pissed by that doesn’t he? He also seems to be trying to anticipate how Max is going to respond. She, though, is filing away the information to mull over at a later date when they aren’t in completely unknown territory with the chance of discovery by people whom they don’t yet know if they will be friend or foe.

“Can you hear that?” Max has enhanced hearing so I doubt the hunk, I mean _Logan_ can hear that at all.

“Hear what?” Logan looks confused.

Max pulls him to one side with a shushing motion. As she pushes him out of sight into a dark alcove and flattens herself against the wall peering round the edge to see what’s coming, Logan also starts to hear what Max could hear before.

“Is that _singing_?” He’s incredulous. I guess it was the last thing he expected to hear when they’re in a cave in the middle of who knows where.

  
_”Hi ho hi Ho  
It’s home from work we go!  
Do do do do dodododo  
Hi ho hi ho hi ho hi ho hi ho  
It’s home from work we go!”_   


“They’re _dwarves_!” Max looks shocked.

She may have been born and raised in the Fourth Kingdom, but she never saw any of the other Nine Kingdoms before the dark and dismal night when she escaped, so you’ll have to forgive her exclamation. She won’t have seen working dwarves before. She won’t even have been told the history of Snow White; which is pretty crazy because we all know that story.

“ _Dwarves_?” Logan seems to be just as surprised.

A group of dwarves are marching past humming, singing and whistling that tune telling Max and Logan that they’re headed home. This means one thing to Max; the direction they are going to head in is to be the complete opposite to that of those dwarves.

“Come on, if they’re leaving then that means we can go the other way and find a way out without bumping into them again.” Max doesn’t wait for an answer. The dwarves have gone out of sight so she’s off and Logan has no choice but to follow.

The tunnel that the slide is in joins onto a bigger tunnel which the dwarves had marched down. All the tunnels in this place are carved out of stone and have torches in sconces at periodic intervals all the way down them, on alternate sides of the tunnel. They are flickering eerily in the breeze that is blowing through the place.

“I think it’s quite possible that we are underground. From what I’ve been told, the Ninth Kingdom isn’t a country like America is, it’s an underground kingdom that spans the entire length of the other eight kingdoms. It’s also the dwarves kingdom,” Logan whispers.

Clever and beautiful. Max had better let this one in.

“Sounds like you might be right.” She’s conceded to him, that’s promising. 

They’re walking ninja-like down the tunnel. Logan seems to be attempting to copy Max, it’s quite adorable really, but he’s not managing the ninja stealthiness that Max has. They are reaching the end of the tunnel so slow to a complete stop as they stare at the cavern it opens up into. 

This place is huge. I mean huger than huge, although I suppose the dwarves swarming around in it make it seem larger because they’re so small. I wouldn’t be able to count the number of torches lighting it, but I bet you Max could with one glance. The place doesn’t smell so great though. IT smells of sweat and sulphur and is almost overwhelming.

That group of dwarves that almost stumbled across Max and Logan may have been on their way home but it certainly didn’t mean that the work had stopped. These creatures obviously work on a non-stop rota. There are ones on wooden platforms that are fixed all around the cavern, chipping away at the stone with pick axes and trundling wheel barrows down to yet more dwarves in the centre. The first group of dwarves to get the stone are breaking up the larger pieces and then sending it all to another group that are grinding the stone. The grey matter goes into a large tub and the silver matter goes to a third group who are examining and sieving it. Right in the centre of the cavern a large bubbling vat of silver liquid is stood with yet _more_ dwarves fussing around it. 

Seriously, there are hundreds of them! And they’re all in red uniforms with black fez type hats except for the ones stood fussing over the vat. These ones are in silver uniforms with blue fez type hats. That’s how you know they’re important. They match the liquid in the vat!

They’re fussing around something that has been lowered into the bubbling vat of liquid by chains and winches on either side of the tub, worked by six worker dwarves on both sides. As Max and Logan watch an order is given by one of the blue hatted dwarves and the sound of _”Heave! Ho!”_ starts to reverberate around the cavern as the two groups of red hatted dwarves either side of the vat start to pull the object out slowly and carefully.

All the dwarves in the cavern turn around to watch as a mirror, sparkling and crackling with magic, starts to rise out of the vat. The dwarves working the winches keep heave ho-ing until it is fully clear of the vat and then there’s silence. Even our two are watching practically open mouthed and bated of breath. It’s a completely pure silence as everyone stares mesmerized at the mirror. This moment of awe doesn’t last long though, suddenly a cough resonates around the cavern and then the mirror starts to wail like a new born baby.

“Behold, the first Magic Mirror of this century!” One of those boss dwarves announces while the other dwarves are all cheering and clapping and hugging each other. 

It must be a big occasion.

“Holy Shit!” Logan gasps. 

Unfortunately, his un-ninja like gasp has meant that the dwarves nearest to them have turned and seen them there. There’s a funny kind of Mexican wave happening now as all the others are turning round to see what’s going on and they’re all whispering amongst themselves.

“Well done you whack job.” Obviously Max isn’t taking kindly to Logan’s faux pas. 

I don’t blame her; it looks like they’ve got a few hundred dwarves to contend with now.

“What’s all this? Intruders? Bring them forward!” That must be the top dwarf ordering that; he’s on the large size (in height, although he does look a bit rotund around the belly now they’ve got closer to him...) and looking rather important and full of himself.

  
**Chapter Two**  


In a Kingdom not too far away, the Fourth Kingdom in fact, in the Snow White Memorial Prison, Lydecker is releasing his wolf. He isn’t actually a wolf, you know. Well, you don’t because I haven’t told you yet.... I’ll stop sidetracking.... He has wolf in him. Wolf DNA to be exact; and it makes him Lydecker’s most prized possession.

The prison is a prison, but it’s also a cover for the experimentation that goes on behind its closed doors. Doors that an unknowing visitor, such as Prince Wendell, would assume to be for solitary confinement are actually hiding corridors into a whole different kind of place. An underground laboratory that the American government control and create genetically modified super soldiers. It’s where Max escaped from. 

Lydecker oversees this top secret laboratory and did when Max escaped with her fellow lab rats. He has issues about _that_ particular incident. So much so, that he is constantly searching for the escapees and always on the lookout for anomalies of passage between the kingdoms in areas that are not known travelling mirror spots. He has his lookouts on all the known spots and spies in all the kingdoms, including amongst the dwarves, that are tasked to keep their eyes open for random appearances of people that shouldn’t be there. 

Especially if they try to run.

On the occasion of the dwarves discovering Max and Logan, no one in the cavern noticed one of the dwarves slip away and contact Lydecker through his blazon mirror, a magic mirror that sits whole and glorious in Lydecker’s office with its children scattered throughout the ten kingdoms. The main mirror is a dark green with the edging a mass of squiggles like thousands of snakes. It emanates a power that few have experienced and, when not in use, reflects nothing, only shows a deep and endless blackness. The smaller mirrors made and conjoined together do allow reflections so as to better hide in the world at large, but all mirrors turn to liquid once their power is called into use. 

The dwarf contacting Lydecker only had to request the mirror get him and it bubbled and glowed then turned to liquid before Lydecker appeared in it to hear the news of strangers appearing within the main chamber of Dragon Mountain.

As his mirror turned back to the fathomless black, Lydecker’s thoughts turned to that of the man and woman in the mountain. The dwarf had not stayed in the cavern long enough to get a good look, and certainly not long enough to check for barcodes, but it was always possible that they could be X-5’s and he wasn’t about to miss a chance of catching _them_. 

His wolf is a Super Soldier. Alec is an X5 from a different unit than Max and he is Lydecker’s top performer when it comes to speed, agility, cunning and assassination. 

“You,” Lydecker barks out and points.

He’s reached the room where this unit of X-5’s are currently being held and is pointing at Alec. These super soldiers are super well behaved too. Alec’s athletically jumped to his feet and approached the door all straight backed and commando-like. 

He’s quite hot really....

“Yes, Sir!” Ooh, nice salute Alec, but this is one wolf not to get on the wrong side of; that flare of green in his eyes sent a shiver right down my non-existent spine.

Lydecker looks pleased. “I have a mission for you and you alone. If I let you out, you must serve me without question.”

“Sir! Yes, Sir!” Alec is really good at that but I hope he doesn’t do it too much more, it could get irritating. 

“Possible escapees in Dragon Mountain, within the Ninth Kingdom. I am entrusting you with the task of capturing these two and bringing them to me _alive_. Understand?” Lydecker gives his orders.

Oh no, here it comes again!

“Sir! Yes, Sir!” 

I do hope he knows how to say something else otherwise this is going to be _soooo_ tedious...

Anyway, he’s being released from the prison with a bag of ‘belongings’ as if he were an actual prisoner that had finished his sentence and was being let back out into the big bad world. You know, _’here’s your stuff, thanks for staying, now foxtrot oscar’_ , type of thing. It’s to help the whole _nobody knows we’re here_ thing. It works too; ninety-nine percent of the general population (not including government officials) have absolutely no idea. Including all the actual prisoners.

The grounds outside the Snow White Memorial Prison are immaculate. So, of course, our wolf is walking across them, rather than following the path. Talk about inconsiderate. No-one’s watching though, except us, and a vulture sat on the prison sign at the drawbridge. You’d think the bird is there on purpose to make the place seem more macabre but, really, he just likes the view. He’s not impressed with the wolf though; he’s looked at him, squawked, and then turned his back on him. 

I think that’s what we should do. Let’s go see what the dwarves are doing with Max and Logan.

The dwarves have herded Max and Logan into the middle of the cavern right in front of the newborn magic mirror and the vat it came out of. The dwarf in charge and his pompous minions have moved down to where Max and Logan are surrounded and are quizzing them quite thoroughly. Not that either of them have answered any of their questions. Max is looking around calculating their next move. There are a lot of dwarves for them to wade through to get to the nearest exit, but her super sight means that she literally can see light at the end of that tunnel.

“Follow my lead.” That’s the only warning Max gave Logan before she started to kick Dwarf Butt.

Logan’s looking slightly shocked, maybe thinking that because these are small people she shouldn’t be going all karate chop on their asses, but the dwarves near him are reacting to Max’s actions by attacking him so if he wants to get out alive...there you go, he’s started to kick some dwarf butt too.

It’s really quite funny to watch. The dwarves literally come up to their thighs at their highest, but they make up for their lack of height with the fervour they fight with. And they are pretty strong. Max is currently fighting off five of the little blighters whilst Logan is dealing with one dwarf attacking him from the front and two hanging onto his legs. As they both do battle, they are edging their way through the crowd towards the tunnel Max decided would be their best route of escape.

It isn’t any surprise that Max is making this fight look simple, a bit like flicking away irritating mosquito’s that simply won’t give up trying to eat your blood. Logan, on the other hand, is struggling to stay away from the axes previously used for mining and now being used for battle. 

Multifunctional tools, those. Bet he wishes he hadn’t said anything now. They don’t just nick the skin when they make contact. The ones that haven’t got too close have torn the bottom parts of his trousers, but the ones that have got close enough have done some damage to his legs. Max has avoided all their attempts to wound her and, in the process, even managed to get a few of them to take out each other.

“Quickly! Get to the tunnel then run!” Max shouts this order to Logan just as she gets free of the crowds and turns to see how he is doing. 

“Grab my hand!” She’s going to help him out now; he’s obviously not got her fighting skills which is probably something that didn’t cross her mind before she went all kung foo. 

Logan has reached out for her hand whilst kicking and hammer punching (that’s the easiest way to punch a dwarf on the head, in case you were wondering) those within reach with his other hand. Max whips him round with all her strength so that he is pulled out of the seething mass of angry dwarves and behind her, yelling at him to run as she goes uber-ninja on the dwarves in front of her, backing off with every punch and kick. Soon the dwarves are struggling to reach her over their fellows that are piling up on the floor where she has thwarted them and she turns and runs up the tunnel after Logan.

It won’t take her long to catch him up. He started off at quite a speed but his injuries and the upward slope of the tunnel are slowing him down. 

See, she’s caught him up already. 

“We gotta keep going; we’ll have to sort out your wounds once we’re clear of this place.” Max tells him to keep him moving.

They’ve just got to where Max saw the light at the end of the tunnel and it isn’t quite what she expected it to be. As they ran up the tunnel, it had been getting smaller and smaller but the light had always been there. Now, they have reached the end and discovered that to reach the light they have to crawl through a gap the size of a manhole. 

“Wait here, I’m going to check it out.” Such bravado from our Max, right to the point where she’s not even waited for a response, just thrown herself head first into the hole and disappeared.

Logan’s looking pretty agitated. He keeps looking at the hole and then looking back down the tunnel. There aren’t any noises of the Dwarves following them. They probably know where they’ve gone and don’t think that they’ll get out alive. Either that or think that they would have to turn back to go a different way so they can catch them again later. Poor old Logan doesn’t know that though, and he isn’t dealing well with how long Max is taking. 

That’s a good sign for them pairing up though...sorry, one track mind.

“Come on through. It’s ok, if a little weird.” Max finally yells.

That got Logan moving straight away. He didn’t even wait until she’d finished speaking, just went through that hole like a croquet ball hit by a mallet through a hoop.

He hasn’t got to the other side very well though; he’s in a heap on the floor where he obviously forgot to slow down as he exited. He’s staring around at where they are though so he must be ok.

They’re in an ice cave. Not exactly the outside that Max had taken the light to be, but the ice and snow surrounding them, especially the stalactites, are giving off such a sparkle that you can forgive her for that error. There’s a circle in the middle of the cave giving off a faint blue light and Max is currently examining it.

  
_For seven men she gave her life.  
For one good man she was his wife.  
Beneath the ice by Snow White Falls,  
there lies the fairest of them all._  


“Snow White!” Logan’s got himself back to the right way up and has caught up with what Max is looking at, discovering it to be the grave of Snow White. He’s bowing his head in reverence. Max, on the other hand, has no idea who Snow White is so keeps looking around.

“Waterfall! That’s what that rumbling sound is! We _have_ found a way out!” She’s pleased with that, means her super sight and her interpretation of it weren’t entirely wrong.

“What waterfall? What _rumbling_ noise?” Logan looks so cute when he’s confused.

With that, Max grabs Logan and drags him to the other side of the cave where the rumbling sound starts to get clearer, then becomes thunderous until eventually it turns into the clear sound of rushing water. Where they had been in the light of the ice cave, now they were heading to a darker area and then they discovered that they were being sprayed by the water rushing by. 

The fact that she is right makes Max dash for the outside like she’s been imprisoned against her will. Something that she struggles against, what with the past she’s had and all. Logan is a bit slower to follow her, bless him, he’s not so sure of his footing as she is. 

Making it outside has brought the child out in Max. As Logan appears next to her in the fresh mountain air, she’s grabbing hold of him and hugging him, laughing with delight. 

See, I knew they’d get there in the end. 

They’re on the side of a mountain, next to a waterfall cascading hundreds of feet into the river below. The wind and wetness of the rocks made for dangerous footing and Logan isn’t too steady on his feet. 

“Woah there! I think we need to get to real solid ground before we start celebrating!” he chuckles.

Oh, I hope he means celebrating like I think he means celebrating....

Max is laughing still, but she’s stopped hugging Logan (unfortunately) and is checking out the best way to get them down to solid ground. It won’t take her long to work it out... see, she’s off and Logan is following behind her; the momentary euphoria that had stopped the pain in his legs leaving and the pain coming back with a vengeance, making him less able to follow at the same speed as Max.

Luckily, she’s noticed and gone back to him; another good sign that their relationship is getting better and she’s using the rags of the ends of his trousers to bandage up the cuts. Logan now looks like he’s wearing homemade board shorts, and with a shirt it kind of looks like he’s supposed to be a big shot banker but is trying to be cool and getting it completely wrong. It’s making Max giggle as she works.

Wounds dealt with for the interim, they are setting back off down the mountain to what they perceive to be safety...

  
**Chapter Three**  


They’ve emerged from the mountains into the Fourth Kingdom and what a lovely sight it is. The sun is shining bright in a crystal clear blue sky with just a few fluffy clouds dotted about...ooh! That one looks like a sheep!

Anyway, the point is that our big bad wolf has a completely clear view of the mountainside, the waterfall and, most of all, our two little soon-to-be love birds making their way down towards the meadows below. That’s what you get when he’s a wolfie X-5 with super sight.

“Gotcha!” Alec says.

Well that’s certainly better than the mantra he was coming out with before. 

He’s making his way to the meadows as well and he’s going to get his ass kicked when he meets Max. I think we’ll enjoy watching that. 

He’s being really sneaky about getting to them. He’s sticking to the darkness of the bushes and ditches, keeping himself low and making sure he doesn’t lose sight of Max and Logan. It’s working too. Max is scanning the area every now and then, but she’s specifically looking for dwarves and so far has completely missed that they are being tracked by a Super Soldier. 

They’ve reached the meadow now and she’s all for keeping going but Logan looks worn out, bless him. He’s found a nice comfortable tree trunk sit and lean against so that he can rest his weary legs and have a look at the wounds those pesky dwarves gave him. By the look on his face I’m not so sure he wanted to do that; probably can’t stand the sight of blood. 

“Get up Logan, we can’t stop here,” Max says.

“Yes, get up _Logan_ . It’s time to take you two home.” Alec has reached them and by the sound of that is obviously not taking any chances of losing them before finding out if they’re X-5’s or not. 

Just going in like a bull in a china shop and attempting to take them back to Lydecker anyways.

Max isn’t having any of that. Logan’s staying put whilst she attacks Alec and he retaliates but Logan can see that these two are practically peas in a pod by the styles of attack and defence they are both using. He’s not stupid and you can see the cogs whirring in that pretty head of his, putting two and two together. What with Alec’s comment about taking them home, him appearing out of nowhere, his initial military stance when he appeared and then the similar fighting style, Logan’s clocked him as another X-5.

“Wait!” He’s jumped up and shouted at them. 

Well, I say jumped up, what I mean is kind of prised himself off the floor using the tree to lever himself up whilst his legs wobble because they’re not used to this kind of exercise, not to mention the wounds he’s got. The other two have warily stopped fighting to look at him.

“I can help you,” Logan tells Alec. “I can help you and Max. I can help you destroy Manticore.” 

Logan’s really going out on a limb there. He doesn’t know for certain whether this is something Max wants and he doesn’t even know the Super Soldier’s name, let alone whether the destruction of Manticore is going to be something he wants too. 

“Destroy it?” That’s piqued Max’s interest.

“I’m listening,” Alec says.

He’s got a captive audience so Logan continues, “It’s not right, the government keeping you locked up and experimenting on people. It has to be stopped. You have to have the chance to a _normal_ life and so do all the others.”

“So you’re talking about a rescue before the destruction then?” Max is always on the lookout for helping the others.

Super Soldier’s looking at Logan in quite a strange manner. 

“Yes, set the other people that have been made and experimented on free and then ruin the business and laboratory as much as we can so that the government cannot, in any way, shape or form, restart the department,” Logan says enthusiastically

“I’m all for kicking some Manticore butt, however our problem is _this_ douche bag. He attacked us so how much can we trust him?” Max turns towards wolfie with her hands on her hips and her head tilted as she assesses him now that they’re not trying to beat the crap out of each other.

“I think that he’s brainwashed by the system he’s been brought up in and we can help him with that.” Logan’s looking at wolfie thoughtfully too.

“I’m not brainwashed, they just think I am. My name’s Alec!” He’s got a smirk on his face now and is completely ignoring Max to talk to Logan.

That’s not very polite.

“Well, Alec...” Logan curls his tongue around Alec’s causing the wolf to smirk even more. “What do you think about freedom?”

“I think freedom sounds like a very good idea,” Alec tells him with a sparkle in his eyes.

This sounds perilously close to flirting. I’m not sure I like where this is headed.

“Well, now we’re all on the same page,” Max interrupts, good girl. “I’m Max, this is Logan and how exactly are we going to pull this off?”

“I suggest we go find Manticore and do some reconnaissance work so that we can form a decent plan,” Logan says cleverly, smiling at Max.

Okay, that’s better; more smiling at Max and less at Alec with his stupid hotness.

“Let’s clean you up first.” Alec crouches down next to Logan and takes the makeshift bandages off his legs. “We’ll have to go wash them in the river. Come on.”

He’s leads Logan down the river bank and, taking his t-shirt off to reveal a ripped, muscly tanned back and chest, he dips the shirt into the river and starts to clean the wounds on Logan’s legs with it.

Hmmm.

“Hey, don’t do that! It’s ruining your shirt!” Logan protests and winces as the material rubs across the wounds.

“Easy there tiger,” Alec soothes. “The shirt’ll be fine, but your legs won’t if we don’t get them cleaned. What happened, you get attacked by fairies?”

“Dwarves, actually, and there were lots of them. Or at least it felt that way,” Logan says with a sigh.

Alec’s finished cleaning up the wounds and is now expertly putting bandages on from the first aid kit he’s whipped out of his pocket. He throws his t-shirt to Max and gestures for her to wash it out in the river. 

I’m surprised she’s doing it, and so is she from the look on her face. She really needs to step up her game if she wants to get Logan. This Alec is pulling out all the stops.

Now that Logan is all taped up, he’s ripping off the rest of the rags of his trousers so that they’re vaguely evened shorts and folding his socks down into his shoes.

“Hey, at least this way I might tan.” Logan’s reacting to the way both Max and Alec are looking at him. He’s obviously a little self conscious about losing the bottoms of his trousers.

“C’mon then guys, lets blaze.” Max’s favourite saying, that. I was wondering when we’d get to hear it again.

They’ve headed off across the meadow together. Alec keeps glancing at Logan every now and again, making Logan blush. Which makes him look adorable but it should be Max making him look like that. Instead she’s so intent on her mission that she’s completely missing the fact that this _interloper_ is stealing her man out from beneath her nose. I mean, it’s a good thing that she’s so determined but can’t she take a minute to do a bit of flirting? Do you see what I have to deal with? It’s no wonder she’s been single for so long.

They’re approaching a town completely surrounded by a magnificent wall. Max is starting to head as though to go around it, to avoid coming into contact with more possibly hostile people.

“Where you going, Maxxie?” Ooh, Alec’s not doing himself any favours by nicknaming her like that this early on in their acquaintance.

See, Max is practically snarling at him. “Around the town.” 

“No need to do that, this is Kissing Town. We’ll be perfectly safe here,” Alec tells her, completely unfazed by her temper.

Kissing Town! Here’s a chance for Max to get on board and do some Logan-wooing of her own.   
You can’t help but get your flirt on in this town.

“Maybe I can get myself some new trousers!” Logan _really_ doesn’t like how he looks at the moment, does he? 

They’re heading into the town itself. It’s such a spectacular town. Tall, pretty buildings housing shops and restaurants and covered in heart balloons. There are squares with fountains in practically every direction you turn and signs for things like kissing lessons. The smell in the air that really strikes you when you enter is of cinnamon and freshly baked bread and there are dozens of rose bushes growing all over the place in a myriad of colours. The people are all extremely happy and dressed to kill; the knock ‘em dead gorgeous kind of dressed to kill, not the actual ninja assassin type of dressed to kill.

“What’s with all the happy people, is this a side town project of Manticore?” Max is obviously freaked out by all the happy clappy lovey dovey stuff surrounding her. 

I hope that doesn’t stop her from making a move on Logan.

“No, I don’t think so. It’s just always been this way. We are in Snow White’s Kingdom after all!” Alec shrugs.

Max looks at him in confusion and then seems to dismiss it as she frowns at all the people.

“Within all the Nine Kingdoms this is the most romantic town. Here, people truly fall in love.” Alec winks at Logan who grins back at him.

This is getting ridiculous. Someone should tell that wolf that Logan belongs to Max not him; preferably Max herself but she’s still wrinkling her nose at all the romantic goings on in the town. 

People are skipping past them, hand in hand, confetti floating all around them. A hawker is coming up the road squirting little puffs of perfume at everyone and little girls dressed as cupids are flitting here and there. Some people are openly kissing in the street; full bodied, can’t get enough of you, kissing.

“Can’t they get a room?!” Max asks.

Well, there goes the idea that Kissing Town will get Max feeling romantic. She’s going to lose Logan if she’s not careful to that wily, wily wolf. I think I’ll glare at him for a while.

“It’s the Kissing Town, they can’t help it. Love is in the air!” Logan’s looking at Alec now, and Alec is smiling back at him. 

Hmmph.

As they’re walking down the street, Logan catches sight of a clothes shop and brushes past Alec in his rush to go inside. Alec’s eyes flare green and he breathes in deeply as Logan passes by. It’s kind of weird actually; it’s probably a wolf thing. 

Stupid wily wolfies.

Wait, Logan’s coming out of the shop again. In tight _pink_ pants. Wow. You’d think that wouldn’t work but he looks amazingly hot. Max and Alec are quite literally gawping at him. 

Yes! Max must be because she’s finally realising her attraction to him. Now she can run Alec off and claim Logan for her own. It is true love, I knew it!

“I know, I know, but it’s all they had,” Logan says, blushing.

“It’s only a real man that can pull off wearing a girly colour like that!” Max is obviously trying to cover her attraction to him by pretending that she finds the pants really funny.

It’s an interesting tactic but I have confidence that our girl can pull it off.

“They’re _really_ tight.” Alec is literally staring open mouthed at Logan, unable to take his eyes off the pants that really do show off what God gave Logan.

Oh, for crying out loud. Someone give the boy a drool bucket.

They are distracted from Logan’s tight pink pants by a sudden commotion from the other end of the street and an influx of people out of the buildings to stand and cheer and wave as Prince Wendell rides past. Max is suddenly grabbing Logan and dragging him off into the crowds as Alec is distracted by the four horse drawn carriage passing by.

Yes! Go Team Max! At last!

“I don’t trust him,” Max is whispering to Logan as they slip between buildings and wind in and out of the crowds, constantly looking behind to make sure Alec isn’t following.

“I know it’s a long shot, but maybe he really doesn’t want to be a part of Manticore. Maybe he’s just too engrained in the program to escape it by himself,” Logan tells her, constantly looking behind to try and see if Alec _is_ following.

“He attacked us with no questions asked and then he switched to being on our side with barely any arm twisting at all,” Max points out. “The only reason I can see for that is that he’s not really on our side but just pretending to be to get us to Manticore easier than if he had us under duress.” 

Okay, let’s go with that explanation of things and completely gloss over the inappropriate flirting that the boys had been doing behind Max’s back. It doesn’t matter now anyway, Alec is gone and Max has Logan all to herself. It’s time to brush off those seduction skills, Maxxie.

Logan’s looking thoughtful. They’ve reached the other side of town and are heading for the forest ahead as quickly as possible. 

“I guess, you could be right.” Logan sounds disappointed but I’m sure Max will cheer him up soon enough. 

“I think we’ve managed to give him the slip for now, but I’m not too sure he won’t be able to follow us real quick so we need to lose our trail in this forest, turn him around a bit so he doesn’t manage to follow us out the other side,” Max says.

“Lay on, MacDuff.” You can tell that that Logan’s literary reference has gone straight over Max’s head from the way she just blinks at him, but she’s leading him off into the forest plunging off the track right away to start the process of leading Alec on a merry dance.

  
**Chapter Four**  


The forest is a lot bigger than it looked from the outskirts of Kissing Town. They are running in twists and turns, looping back and forth to cross their tracks and make a jumble for Alec to get confused by.

“Wait! What’s that?” Logan has spotted an odd looking sign. It’s pointing down the track they’ve just reached and says:

  
_SNOW WHITE MEMORIAL PRISON - 39 MILES_  


Underneath that, it is pointing into the forest the other side of the track and says:

  
_SNOW WHITE MEMORIAL PRISON - 13 MILES_  


“It could be a trick.” Max is wary of _everything_.

“I know, but it’s not the road and you’ve been all for not following the road so far. What harm can it do to follow it?” Logan is smiling his best smile to try and win Max over and it’s totally working. 

Finally! It looks like there might still be a chance for these two, even with the Kissing Town atmosphere totally not having a chance to work its mojo.

“What the hell.” Max shrugs and they make their way across the road and into the forest on the other side. 

Plunging through the trees they soon felt themselves sinking in marsh land.

“Maybe this is a shortcut for monkeys because the land isn’t passable. Hmm?” Max is being snide because even with her ninja cat-like qualities she’s still sinking into the ground with every step.

“Or maybe it’s a shortcut for people on foot, like we are, and not for people with horse and carriage, like Prince Wendell?” Logan is trying desperately to not be wrong on this one.

They aren’t stopping, though; even if it does seem like it was a bad decision. The bottoms of Logan’s tight pink pants are now going a mangy green colour. A bit like the glow that’s coming off the clearing that’s now in front of them. Logan seems to have led them down a route to a swamp with sunken trees and murky water that smells completely rancid.

“Can you hear music?” Logan asks.

“No, but that was a wolf howling,” Max replies irritably.

“It’s one of those old songs from before the Pulse, listen!” Logan is insisting which is making Max scowl at him.

“All I can hear is screeching and that wolf,” she snaps.

Uh oh! It’s not looking good for our couple after all. Max is being grumpy because of the boggy ground she’s sinking into, Logan is ignoring her to listen to that strange music and it sounds like Alec’s hot on their trail. It’s hardly the most romantic atmosphere; will nothing go right for them?

“What are those lights?” Max asks but won’t get much of an answer out of Logan, he’s currently dancing to music only he can hear. “There’s something not right about this, I think we should turn back.”

I’m with you on that one, Max, this place is spooky.

“Noooo!” Wow, Logan whining is not so pretty! “Not ‘til I’ve heard more!” 

He is dancing further into the glowy green of the swamp, forcing Max to stomp after him.

“Hello!” Three little pixies suddenly say.

“Who are you?” Max demands, getting straight to the point. 

Logan, on the other hand, is just gawping at them. He’s even shuffling closer to try and get a better look. I don’t blame him. He’s never seen pixies before and they _are_ strange looking. At first glance they look perfectly human, just extremely tiny. But the closer you look the more, well, _wrong_ they seem to be. For starters, I’ve never seen a human glow. 

“Folks always think they can handle the swamp...” says the first pixie.

“...but no-one ever can. The Swamp Witch always gets them.” Finishes the second.

Oh great. They’re _those_ kind of pixies; the ones that finish each other’s sentences.

“There are three things you must avoid whilst travelling through the swamp...” The third pixie chips in.

“First, you must never drink the water...”

“Second, you must never eat the mushrooms...”

“And third...”

“Never fall asleep!” That last bit was said by all three in tandem, in an extremely creepy way.

Bloody pixies. 

“Ok, I agree with you, Max, this isn’t right, we should turn back,” Logan whispers in a sotto voice.

“Too late! Too late! You’re doomed!” The pixies yell...or squeak very loudly.

“Doomed? I don’t think so,” Max scoffs.

“The only way to go is forward!” The pixies start laughing which echoes all around the little group.

Looking behind them, there really isn’t a clear path to go back on any more. Even Max’s super sight isn’t finding a way through. The swamp seems to be closing around them. The only way for them to go is forward.

With the pixies gone, Max and Logan join hands (at last!) and carry on, going forward, just like the pixies said they would have to. The light around them is a dank glowy green allowing them only to see where it wants them to see, and only to go where it wants them to go. Now they’ve reached a bit where they need to go into the swamp to get across to the other side so they splash into it together. The water reaches up to Max’s armpits and above Logan’s waist as they wade across. Thankfully, they soon reach the other side and are dragging themselves up onto the mossy bank.

“I can’t go any further, I need to rest.” Poor Logan, he’s really had a very exhausting day all in all.

“We can rest, but no sleeping, drinking or eating,” Max reminds him.

“Yes Ma’am!” Logan gives her a mock salute.

“Then why are you drinking from the swamp? And where did you get that mug from?”Max yells.

“Same place you did, and you’re drinking it too!” Logan points out.

It’s true; the pair of them suddenly have mugs in their hands and are scooping water out of the swamp. They shouldn’t be drinking from the swamp! Stop it!

“What are you doing now? And where did you get those eggs from? And a frying pan?!” Max asks incredulously.

“There’s dry wood for a fire and I am starving. Aren’t you?” Logan asks, as if there’s nothing at all suspicious about that.

“Yes, but we’re not supposed to eat anything!” 

That’s it Max, you tell him! And whilst you’re at it _stop drinking the swamp water!_

“No, that’s wrong. They said we’re not supposed to eat the mushrooms. These are eggs, so I’m making us omelette,” Logan points out in a reasonable tone.

“Well, ok, so long as we don’t eat the mushrooms.” Max nods.

Right, that’s it! I give up! First, Logan and Max refuse to get it on no matter how much I want to see...umm...how happy they’d make each other. And now, they are ignoring all the rules of the forest that they were only told _a few minutes ago!_ I think I’ll go and narrate someone else, that Normal guy seemed like he’d be pretty funny...

“What good is an omelette with nothing to put in it?” asks a mushroom.

Okay...talking mushrooms. Maybe, I’ll stay here a little while longer.

“Pop in a couple of mushrooms!” says another mushroom.

“Shut up! We’re not going to eat you.” Logan is talking sense, at last.

“We weren’t suggesting you should, we were just trying to point out the tarragon over there.”  
That was yet another mushroom. 

They’re quite chatty for a vegetable.

“It’s an essential ingredient of a mushroom omelette!” the first mushroom tries.

“You’re not going to trick us like that!” Max tells them.

Unfortunately, it looks as though Max and Logan’s bodies aren’t paying any attention to their brains. Logan adds the tarragon to the omelette followed by a load of mushrooms. Plus they’ve each got another mug-full of swamp water to drink as they both devour the forbidden food with glee.

The pixies! Remember what the pixies said! 

“That was delicious.” Logan throws down his empty plate and sighs.

“It was far out, wasn’t it. Like nothing else has ever tasted so good.” Max yawns.

That really isn’t a good sign.

“I’m just going to lie down for a bit...” Logan mumbles sleepily.

“Me too...just close my eyes for a minute,” Max agrees.

The mushrooms don’t just talk. They are now _singing_ . Yes, that’s the music that Logan heard earlier. Singing mushrooms; this place just gets stranger and stranger. And, of course, the singing has lulled Max and Logan to sleep.

The trees of the swamps start to sway and the ground moves as their roots grow up out of the ground with tremendous speed. The roots wrap themselves around the sleeping pair and start to pull them down into the swamp. It looks like all is lost. What was Normal’s number again?

But wait! Someone’s running up to them, calling out Logan’s name.

“Logan! Logan! Wake up!” 

It’s Alec! What a mixed blessing but I suppose I can let his previous behaviour go if he saves our heroes lives. Just so long as he doesn’t start up any funny business again.

He’s reached them and is pulling out all the roots and digging Logan out of his shallow grave, shouting at him to wake up. 

“I thought I’d lost you!” Alec tells him. “Max, wake up Max, we need to get out of here.”

He’s stopped hugging Logan, far too tightly and for far too long for my liking, and is pulling Max out of her shallow grave.

“What happened?” Max is holding her head as she stands up to get well clear of the roots.

“You succumbed to the swamp. You drank the water, ate the mushrooms and went to sleep. All the things that you shouldn’t do.” Alec growls at them angrily. “Come on, we need to get out of here before anything else happens.”

Max and Logan are both looking rather sheepish at the stern look Alec’s giving them. And so they should be.

Alec is now guiding them forward and showing them the path out of the forest. He’s not going to be leaving them this time. He’s also staying far too close to Logan again. He can stop that right now.

“I can’t believe you ran away from me, even after I said I wanted to help destroy Manticore.” Alec seems a little miffed at that.

“And you.” He’s directing this at Logan. “Now that I’ve met you, I could never live without you.” 

No, no, no. Alec’s using his wiles on Logan again and Max has strategically moved further ahead. This isn’t right! Logan was supposed to fall for Max!

“When wolves find their mate, they mate for life. If you had died there would never have been anyone else for me,” Alec tells Logan who looks touched and very happy.

Damn it!

Max has reached a clearing on the edge of the forest and has turned to talk to them, meaning that we don’t get to hear Logan’s answer in which I _hope_ he tells Alec that he’s chasing after Max, not Alec. But I don’t think it will be.

“This is a good place to stop while we wait for dark. The prison’s just over the other side of that meadow,” she says. 

“Sounds good to me,” Alec agrees. “I’ll go gather some wood for a fire. You two need to get dry otherwise you’ll get ill and then we won’t be able to do anything about Manticore.” 

“I’ll come help you,” Logan says in the most unsubtle way possible.

And now the two of them are practically running into the forest and Max is setting up camp on her own. This has not turned out the way I hoped at all and why should it, I’m only the narrator. I’m not even good enough to be an actual character so why on earth would I be allowed to have any say in the lives of the characters I’m narrating? 

All I wanted was for the hunk to get the hottie, not too much to ask is it? I mean, they have come so close so many times! They should have spent longer in Kissing Town then maybe they’d have kissed and Alec wouldn’t be....

_Making out with Logan!_

He’s got Logan pressed up against a tree and is kissing him with all he’s got and Logan is responding! His hands are _inside_ Alec’s t-shirt lightly stroking up and down his back, making Alec _shudder_ with delight! This is what should be happening with Max, not Alec! 

Do they have no shame? Necking in the woods like a pair of adolescents. The t-shirts have come off now and Logan’s getting the hands everywhere treatment from Alec. He’s gasping for breath and looking oh, so hot! Alec seems to be quite quick at learning where the best spots are to arouse Logan and those tight pink pants are hiding _nothing_. It kinda makes me wanna see what Alec’s packing...

“Alec, wait...” Logan pants.

Alec looks concerned and stops what he’s doing. “You ok?” 

“I’ve never....with a man...” Logan’s saying.

“I’ll be gentle...” Alec’s kissing him again, to allay his fears I suppose. 

He better be nice to him. 

Woah! Wait a minute! Logan’s obviously decided to take the bull by the horns because he’s whipped Alec’s belt off and dropped his trousers quicker than you can say ‘howdy doody!’ Releasing his manhood (and a _mighty_ fine manhood it is) and _taking it in his mouth_. 

Wow, that’s... that’s _really_ hot. Who knew gay porn could be this good?! 

Alec won’t last long the way he’s being treated, he’s got a look of pure ecstasy on his face. See, he’s making Logan stop and crouching down, naked, in front of him and his tight pink pants. This I gotta see, that thing’s been taunting us since he bought those pants. There he goes! Wow, well, neither of them can argue about size then, can they?!

They are actually rolling around in the mud, kissing and biting at each other, their hands are everywhere and they’re panting and grunting so much I’m surprised they haven’t got an audience. They’re getting awfully sweaty and it’s making them shiny like they’ve been oiled down. Two men have never looked so good. 

I may be starting to see the plus side to Alec winning out over Max.

Alec is preparing Logan for the main event and Logan looks like he’s enjoying it. He’s only using one finger at the moment, and that certainly won’t be enough to make him ready for _that_ member. Oh, wait, he’s using more fingers now, and there was only a momentary flash of pain across Logan’s face until the fingers touched just the right place to make him moan in delight.

Alec’s moved Logan so that he’s lying on his back and lifted his legs up to rest against his shoulders whilst he positions himself.

“You ready for this?” asks Alec gently.

“Yesss” Logan bucks up trying to move things along but Alec isn’t having any of that.

“You’re sure?”

“Just do it, I want you inside me!” Logan practically yells in frustration.

Don’t you just want him to say that to you? And if not him then someone just as hunky. And, probably not those exact words...but you get what I mean.

Oh, look at them go! Alec is inside Logan. He’s pushed himself all the way in and the look on his face is such that I think if he moves he might explode from the exquisiteness of it all.

“You ok?” Alec’s got over the initial feeling of being inside Logan and is actually checking to make sure he’s ok. 

Maybe he’s not so bad after all. I mean, he’s definitely a hottie and I did want to see the hunk get the hottie.

“Yes, let yourself go.” Logan’s words of encouragement have set Alec going as if he’s been abstinent for far too long to mention. 

Their bodies are slapping together as they find their rhythm and reach their completion almost simultaneously, the experience being almost too much to bear for them, they lay panting on top of each other in a tangled mess as they let their heart rates and breathing return to normal.

Wow! I need a cold shower after that.

  
**Chapter Five**  


“Where have you been? And where’s the wood?” Max berates the boys as they walk back into the clearing looking a bit roughed up and without any of the wood that they had gone to get.

“We decided it was a warm enough day and smoke would only bring attention to where we are hiding.” Logan gives the lamest cover up excuse I’ve ever come across.

“Right, ok. Well Logan, you look worn out, you should take this time to rest. Alec and I will scope out the prison and work out our plan of action,” Max says.

Logan smiles, both at Max and at Logan, then settles down and promptly falls straight to sleep.

“So, Alec, you know this place better than I do, I can only remember what it was like before I escaped. What do you think our best plan of action should be?” Max gets right down to business.

“Poison. Poison the guards and all those that are working on the Manticore project and then let everyone out,” Alec says after a moment. “There are enough random experiments with pissed off people turned animal that we can leave them to destroy the place and take Logan home before he gets into any more trouble.”

Max nods. “Good plan. Where do we get poison from?”

“There’s a vat of it in the kitchens of the prison. It’s always full and is used for the prisoners convicted of most heinous crimes that are to be put to death. All we have to do is put it into the wine bottles and convince everyone to drink it.” Alec looks thoughtful.

“That is going to be our main problem,” Max says.

Alec shakes his head. “Not really. The wine is what all the workers drink at dinner time so as long as we taint it before dinner, they’ll all drink it!” 

Sounds like a plan to me.

“So, we going in now?” Max jumps up.

She’s all about the action this one. Wants to get right on it and poor old Logan’s wiped out sleeping like our very own sleeping beauty. A fact that hasn’t got past Alec, the way he’s looking at him. He really shouldn’t be doing that right now. He’s got to get his head back on the mission.

“We can’t leave Logan here and I’m not so sure we should wake him up after all the _action_ he’s had....” Alec starts but it’s too late, Max is already waking him up.

“Wha....” Oh, sleepy Logan is just pick him up and put him in your pocket scrumptious!

“We gotta blaze, got some poisoning to do.” She’s not even being gentle with him. No wonder he’s falling for Alec’s charms instead. 

Now Max is off, commando-ing through the edge of the trees to get closer to the prison. That girl just loves to kick some ass!

“What’s the plan?” Logan asks.

“Poison the wine, wait until dinnertime, all the guards will drink it, we’ll gain access to the prison and let everybody out.” There’s Alec’s smirk again, like the cat that’s got the cream...

“Sounds like nothing could go wrong!” Logan’s being sarcastic; we haven’t seen that of Logan before, maybe its what happens when he gets rudely awakened.   
No chance for him to get any more sarcasm out though, Alec’s playfully cuffed him round the head and sent him off after Max.

The vulture’s still there, admiring the view and eyeing the three of them just to make sure they aren’t there to shoo him off. He’d have to peck them if that was the case. This is _his_ spot and he won’t be moving for anybody. Luckily for him, they’re more interested in getting into the prison unseen than worrying about the vulture sat on the sign outside. 

Max is looking like she’s going to make a dash for it across the moat then across the green to the front door...

“No! Wait!” Alec’s yelling at her in a loud whisper. So it’s not really a yell, but hell, you know what I mean. It’s not like any of the characters are doing what I want them to....

“What?” She’s whisper-yelling back at him.

“There’s a better way to get in,” he tells her.

“Where?”

“Follow me.”

Logan followed all that with the same bemused expression on his face that I’d have on mine... if I had a face...

Alec is now leading them around the side to a spot covered by the overhanging trees where the moat heads into the prison.

“This is the water supply they use. We can get in through here.”

“They use this for people to drink?” Logan sounds as disgusted as I feel. 

We’re on the same wavelength here, if I had fingers I’d be frantically waving them between his head and mine....if I had a head that is....

“Get over it; we’re going to let them all out remember?” I think that Max is pissed that Alec came up with a better way of getting in than she did.

She’s now splashed into the moat and is making her way up towards the prison, keeping to the shadowed side of the moats banks. Logan’s just shrugged at Alec and followed her, keeping Alec at the back in case they get attacked from that side. 

“Woah! Wait! You can’t just!” Logan’s having a bit of a freak out right about now. 

I’m not at all surprised (like minds thing again...) Max has just disappeared under the solid stone wall that is the outer wall of the prison, expecting Logan and Alec to follow.

“Come on Logan, you can do it. Nothing else you can do at this point.” Alec’s attempt to make Logan feel better about this isn’t exactly good, but it does point out the fact that they’ve got this far so they’ve just got to keep on going. 

Logan takes a deep breath and plunges beneath the water.

I can’t take this. They’ve all gone underwater and under the building and _I can’t see how they’re doing!_ The water is so murky and pitch black where it goes under the water and into part of the basement that until they surface I have no idea if they’ve survived! 

Wait! BUBBLES!! Here’s Max, phew, that took a long time. I hope Logan manages to hold his breath that long. I think Max must be on my wavelength on this one; she’s taken a deep breath and headed back under to look for the others. 

That was a good thing for her to do. She must’ve found Logan and dragged him up to the surface for air before he passed out. He’s really not looking too good and she’s hoisting him onto the side to give him a chance to recover as Alec surfaces and leaps out to see how he’s doing. Maybe he is a good boyfriend after all.

“Come on, we’ve got to move quick before someone catches us.” Better than the girlfriend Max would be apparently.

She’s off, with Alec close on her heels to make sure she goes the right way. Logan is up and after them but he’s definitely not got their super powers and you can see how much all this is affecting him. He’s following them, but he’s only just managing to keep up. Needs a bit more breath in his lungs after that water episode. 

No time for that though. The kitchen’s only on the next floor up and they’ve already reached the corridor it’s on. They’re currently hiding in the stairwell with Alec looking out to see who’s about.

“I’ve got a plan,” Alec says suddenly as an idea hits him.

“Spill.” Max, oh she of little words.

“I’m going in as myself; as if I’ve been sent in there. I’ve been in there before with orders from the boss, so this should work. They’ll just think I’m one of his elite guards.” Alec grins.

“I don’t like this. You could quite easily be turning on us, going in to them, leaving us here and instead of planting the poison you’ll actually be turning us in.” Max obviously still doesn’t trust him, even after he saved their lives.

“Believe me, that is not what I’m going to do.” He’s staring quite specifically at Logan.

“I believe you,” Logan tells him. “Max, this is the only way we’re going to be successful. You’ve got to let him go.”

Well, if I hadn’t seen what I’d seen in the woods I’d be with Max on this one. Reluctant. But she’s letting him go because Logan gave her his puppy dog eyes and she obviously melted at that. I mean, what woman wouldn’t? Or man, apparently...ahem... _think cold shower thoughts, think cold shower thoughts..._

But enough of Logan Drooling, Alec’s headed off without waiting for any further discussion so Max and Logan are now waiting nervously for him to come back. The stairs are dark, but the corridor to the kitchen is lit by a torch and the flickering light is playing havoc with Logan’s imagination. He keeps jumping at the ghosts the shadows are making on the floors and walls. So much so that he jumps and almost shouts out loud; clamping his hands over his mouth to stop himself, when Alec suddenly appears back at their sides.

“Done, and from the smell of dinner it’s almost time for them to partake.” The grin on Alec’s face is nothing short of evil. 

Neither Max nor Logan seem to have a response to that and, for the moment, all that can be heard is the slight gasping breaths of Logan and the flickering of the torch. It’s quite dull, actually.

“Did you hear that?” Max asks, forgetting that no everyone has super hearing like she does.

“Yes, that’s the first one dropping, and _that_ must be the rest of them quickly following suit!” Oh, right, yes, Alec has super hearing too. 

Although, I did hear the collective thump. The poison has worked.

“Let’s get moving then.” Logan says, all trying to take charge!

It’s kind of sweet.

“I’ll lead the way.” Alec is now running commando style back up the corridor leading them to the inner world of Manticore.

It’s quite clever, really. There’s a cell within the solitary confinement block that leads to the rest of the building; the hidden building. The part where Max’s childhood memories come back to life and where Alec lives. Although, he really did keep his word so maybe I should be saying _lived_. They are at the door to let them through and now comes the hard part. They may have poisoned the wine, but really, can they be so sure that the whole place drank some?

“Well, well, well! Looks like my favourite wolf has done his job properly yet again!” Lydecker drawls.

Sometimes, I just hate being right.

“Run! Set the others free, I’ll sort this one out!” Alec launched into an attack the moment he started speaking. 

This could be interesting. He’s fighting Lydecker. A super soldier against his boss, who is holding his own even though he doesn’t have the whole super thing going on for him.

“GO!” Max and, particularly Logan have hesitated a split second but Alec’s shout gets them moving again. 

Logan is releasing the locks on all the doors they find whilst Max is fending off the lesser able guards. Now that other super’s have been released the job is getting easier and easier. There are a lot of angry experiments in this place.

“Come on, we’ve got to get out of here. I should be able to remember the way back to the mirror I escaped through last time,” Max yells at Logan.

“But, what about Alec?” Logan is hesitating, looking back through the carnage they are wreaking behind them as they go. 

“He’ll be ok, come on!” Max is losing this battle, Logan hasn’t moved.

“But...” 

Alec suddenly appears through the carnage. 

“See! I told you he’d be ok!” Max says smugly.

With Alec close on their heels, Logan turns and follows Max.

“Look! I told you I recognise this! That’s the mirror we escaped through the first time!” Max yells, pointing excitedly.

Max is ushering the other two through, none of the other Manticore inmates have followed them this far; they are all still wreaking havoc throughout the jail and some are heading out into the other nine Kingdoms to find a place for themselves. Max jumps through after Alec and they all find themselves on top of the Space Needle in Seattle with the moon shining brightly above them.

“Welcome to my world.” Logan is smiling at Alec and I know that I should be angry because I wanted him to be with Max, but they are adorable...and hot...and... _think cold shower thoughts, think cold shower thoughts..._

Oh great, now they’re kissing again, that’s not helping me at all. 

Max has turned to leave with a very Alec like smirk on her face like she knew this was going on all along! They’ve all been conspiring against me! So not fair! 

The two boys are oblivious to everything though; all lit up by the moonlight and clasping each other like they may never let go again....


End file.
